Saturday, November 3, 2012

Real Refreshment Comes from Seeing Glory, Not Getting Stuff Done

Cursed are the anxieties that choke the word and blind us to glory
and true joy. Even the anxieties over things legitimate in themselves (Luke 10:40-42).

They frequently surround us and constantly demand our attention. The
meal needs to be made, the car needs cleaning, the garage is out of
control. Let’s not talk about the laundry room. Are you ever going to
read that parenting book? You’re not saving enough for retirement! When
are you going to complete that course? Have you updated your will yet?
Has the child finished his chores? Oh for goodness’ sake, look at the
bathroom!

Legitimate things all of them, and a thousand others like them. None
of them is wrong to do in themselves. In fact, most of them need to be
done at some point. And yet any one of them, or the compounding pressure
of all of them, can produce acts of faithlessness because they make us
anxious and troubled and they siphon off our fleeting time, our fleeting
life, in these evil days (Ephesians 5:16).

Beware, “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word” (Matthew 13:22).
Cares choke the word. And when we’re choking, we can’t see the glory
the word reveals. We might know about glorious things, but if knowing
doesn’t produce seeing, it does us little good.

So what do you do when you feel like you’re choking? You do what Mary did in Luke 10:39. You carve out time to set the demanding tasks aside and sit at Jesus’ feet and listen and look.

But you’re not going to feel like it. You’ll feel like getting the
stuff done. Getting stuff done will promise you relief, but don’t
believe it. It won’t deliver much. More stuff is lining up behind the
stuff currently shouting at you. Stuff will steal your life if you let
it.

Real relief is in seeing real glory. Because in seeing the “good portion” (Luke 10:42)
of the glory of Jesus, in really hearing his refreshing word, your
priorities shift. You see your life in eternal perspective. The voices
of demanding stuff diminish in volume and compulsion.